Extracts from a letter from Desmond FitzGerald to William Craig Martin
(Shanghai)

Dear Craig Martin,

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea modified culpa! Yes, I have not been a very brilliant correspondent. When I want to write a long letter I postpone it until I have leisure, and leisure that one could call leisure never comes along.

Your official letter of July 1st is being answered through the office, and I am sending you the authorisation you require.

We have been very worried about you since we began getting news of trouble in China. The good-humoured irritability of your letter helps to re-assure me. I do hope things are not too bad out there, or at least their reactions don't affect you.

I am very sorry you had the expense of that long journey. This business is very complicated. Breaking new ground is a very slow process. All Dominions before our advent described their Nationals on their passports as British Subjects. Our people naturally objected to that which is quite unnecessary, and to some extent misleading, and as the British objected to anything that has not precedent they refused to be helpful in the matter. I think that would easily be settled if there were anything in the nature of an Imperial Conference, but any change for which there is no precedent is difficult in the absence of an Imperial Conference.

None of our representatives abroad issue passports, again for the same reason that it is not being done by other Dominion representatives, and again I think this matter will be settleable with a Conference.

We broke new ground by issuing visas in the United States. I wanted to see how that would work before pushing ahead with the issue of passports. The statement you saw in the "Weekly Irish Times" was correct in as far as the issue of passports is concerned, incorrect in the other part. When we made the arrangement for the issue of visas we had to recognise the fact that there was no passport arrangement between here and England, and it would cause a good deal of inconvenience if we demanded passports between the two countries. Therefore it was obvious that anybody landing in Ireland from America could proceed to England and anybody landing in England could come on to Ireland. The arrangement I made was that when a person was coming to Ireland they should apply to our office in New York for a visa and pay us ten dollars. If they wished also to visit England they should go to the British Consul who would give a visa for nothing. And when a person proposed landing in England he should go first to the British Consul, pay ten dollars for visa and we would give visa free for coming to Ireland.

In order to encourage the people to put the ten dollars in our pocket we indicated that unless they had one of our ten dollar visas they could not land direct in Ireland. The argument about the matter came from the fact that through laziness, stupidity, etc. people who proposed coming here first didn't bother doing what they were instructed to do, went to the British Consul, paid ten dollars for a visa, and either came or did not come to our office in New York for a free visa. These got British visas and embarked not intending to come to Ireland and then on the journey changed their mind and decided to land at Cobh, and were annoyed when we raised the question about their lack of Irish visa. As a matter of fact we have told the agents at Cobh to allow the people to land but to explain to them that we are merely overlooking their lack of ten dollar visa on that one occasion to encourage them in future to put the money in our pocket as we need it.

I shall if possible move on to have our offices issue passports and have some of our representatives made fully exequatured consuls. I cannot guarantee that I shall succeed but I think I shall. Neither can I guarantee to do it quickly.
[Matter omitted]

A whole lot of things have been happening since you went away, but the most recent thing has been the Horse Show and all the social events associated with it. Dublin for that time was quite a gay City; bigger crowds than ever and all sorts of amusement in the way of theatres, dances and a cabaret. Also there was an American flag-ship here which induced social events. The result was that for that period one hardly got any sleep. The whole events of that time were a sort of interpretation or re-action to the political history of this year. The big batch of bye-elections early in the year in which the Government Party succeeded rather brilliantly had a very reassuring effect on people.

Then the Budget with its two million pound reduction in taxation cheered them. That was followed up by the pushing ahead of the Shannon Scheme (the actual construction works on this are now beginning); the beet sugar and other schemes which have stirred peoples' imaginations and brought a tone of optimism. So that the Horse Show period came along as though to interpret the general cheerfulness and optimism of the country.

Naturally we[,] seated in this thoroughly stable well-established and progressive country[,] feel very worried about you over there. I hope we are about as wrong-headed as say the English people who a year ago thought that if one came to Dublin one was pretty certain to be disintegrated by a bomb.
[Matter omitted]